Star Chat

Fulfilling Dreams

Drummer Labib
Talks to
Sabhanaz Rashid Diya

Courtesy : Labib

I studied in Oxford International School till Class 6, and then completed my O'levels from Academia. Then I left for the USA and joined the Manchester High School in Michigan as a foreign exchange student. I completed my high school, i.e. Class 12 from this school. On returning to Bangladesh, I joined North South University (NSU) in Engineering, but later transferred my credits to Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) for a major in Media and Communication. I am currently studying in IUB.

At Oxford, I once got into a fight with a classmate and was later taken to the lead teacher. She was extremely angry and scolded me a lot. However, my mother, who at the time used to teach at Oxford, happened to be best friends with the lead teacher. The teacher, however, did not know that I was her friend's son. She did find out later on. The best part was that the guy I got into a fight with got into trouble too!

I remember going to Fantasy Kingdom with my friends back then. That was my first time in an amusement park with thrill rides like roller-coasters, and I obviously thought it will be a breeze to ride on one of those. Finally, when I got up on the roller-coaster, I realised how scary it really was. I was so frightened! It was embarrassing since I initially bragged to my friends about how easy it was going to be.

When I was in the US and didn't have any drum sets, I used to practice shadow drumming. The only way I could play on real drums was if I joined the school jazz band. So, I got in as a shadow drummer and was excited with the response we got on our first show. At the end of the school year, during our last performance in front of the whole school, I received the Senior Jazz Award. That was definitely an unforgettable moment because it happened so suddenly. I never expected to receive this award, particularly being a foreign exchange student. It was a very proud moment of my life.

My uncle is Sunjoy, who used to sing for the band Warfaze at the very beginning, and it was through him that I got into the music scene in Bangladesh. I was 16 years old, and at that time, I was not involved with the rock scene at all. I would ask a million questions and my uncle's rock star pals would help me out and give me drumming tips now and then. Eventually, I would be picking up songs on my own. At one point, I got so engrossed into drums that it would often be the case that I couldn't sleep unless I did shadow drumming. It became a habit. (And sometimes, I would have to shadow dream in order to sleep!) Eventually, I got into the local music scene and learnt about the underground music circles. Now I play for three bands -- Shunno, Germantown and Bohemian.

I have a lot of fun when I go to university, since most of my friends there end up being the admirers of my bands and the music that we play. Of course, some of them are also big time critics. But that is absolutely okay, since I believe that life is just too short and one should fulfil all his or her dreams, or at least try to!